Ocean View and Bethany Beach Day Spa for Weddings

If you are planning a wedding in 2014, one idea you might want to consider as a wedding gown enhancement is adding Body Art.  It is new on the market and sure to make the bride all that more stunning, by adding a little extra "bling" with these Glitter body arts. 

Getting married on the beach in Delaware or Ocean City, there is only one place to get one of these Bridal Glitter Body Art enhancements, and that's at LaVita Bella Day spa in the Ocean View / BethanyBeach area of Delaware. 

Another idea you could treat yourself and/or your bridemaids to a Day Spa treat, a few days before or even a week before your beautiful beach wedding.  Imagine how relaxed you'll feel after a massage a week before you wedding allowing you to be refreshed and relax before your big day.  as i'm sure you know, planning your own wedding can be stressful.  And how getting your nails done a few days before you wedding, there is no better place to get manicures and pedicures in Delaware then at La Vita Bella Day Spa. 

New location, new adventures, and new services.

Well they say that location is everything in business, and now Hitched Photography is located on Rehoboth Ave near the boardwalk. Working in association with Renove Med Spa, it’s a relationship with many benefits. Having an office here I’m able to chat with clients, showcase my work, and advertise my services right on this busy road.

With new adventures I get to learn more about these med spa services while I’m here and within ear shot of what everyone is chatting about. Finding out about facials, botox, radiesse, and so much more, as I’m working with photography I want to take photos making you look your best, and many of these services and help assist that.

I’m also offering glamour shots here at the Renove location as well as before and after shot for Dr. Parsons with people getting various procedures done. On top of offering wedding photography services, and beach portrait services to the spa clients, I’m able to give them glamour photography too.

Check us out in Rehoboth at Renove Med Spa, 416 Rehoboth Ave.

Beach Portrait Ideas Welcome

When choosing me, Hitched Photography, or my photographers, you should feel confident knowing we’ll have some fun. Processing some beach portrait images from today, I was thinking how cool it can be collaborating with the client and making the photo shoot into something special by coming up with ideas together.

Just today, I had a family of three, Mom, daughter, and son. And with a family of three and the neat ideas bouncing off each other, we ended up taking some 650 images, a lot more than if I had a family of 20. Which is not to say that with a large family we can’t create some cool photos together, we often times create some very memorable images.

What I want future clients to know, that I’m not one to shoot down any idea that comes my way.A lot of times I’ll photograph a family for beach portrait and I’ll come out there with my preset ideas based on what most people like. I usually try to do something new and fun, whenever possible. Whenever possible I take in client ideas and suggestions, and make them into what you want, using my equipment and skills. I’ll have fun making these ideas into an awesome image and I’ll come away with a new cool photo technique that I can share with the next family.

With my family of three, the little girl of 8, had some pretty cool interesting photo suggestions.By taking in her creative ideas, I was able to have some fun shooting out of my normal shoot zone. There are times when I don’t have time to get these shots, or maybe the client isn’t looking for something so different. But in this case I had time and a willing model to photograph.

So before any photo shoot with me or any other photograph, think about what you would like to come away with. It’s your photo shoot, shouldn’t you make it into what you would like. And always have fun with it!

Great times with Beach Portraits

With the full swing of summer, we are working the beach portraits and having a good time with it. If you haven't gotten your family together this is the summer for your family's portrait on the beach with us.

Melissa and Harry Wedding

One of the funnest weddings from the summer. Taking care and providing photography for some of my closest friends, is always a real treat. This was also a wedding where I had my high school photography teacher there, Ms. Fagan as I called her in high school, was the one who got me into photography so many years ago.
This is a link to the website about the wedding.

http://www.marionwedding.com/

and here is the link to the Wedding Gallery itself.

http://hitchedphoto.smugmug.com/Weddings/Melissa-and-Harry-Wedding/9842265_dXxvt#675521508_cprzc

My only regret is not having more time with the bride and groom, creating those romantic shots they will love for a lifetime.

Not all smartphones are as smart as others

Not all smartphones are as smart as others apparently. I was working and operating a Motorola Q for about a year, and as I thought about upgrading to the Iphone I realized I really don’t like Mac products. I don’t like the QuickTime or ITunes, the ipod is ok but I just have to deal with that one. Well then I was introduced to the HTC Pure, which runs off the Windows Mobile 6.5. All in all it’s a pretty awesome phone and I was also educated on the fact that At&t says you have to have a data plan if you have a smartphone. I wasn’t using all that it can do because of the cost involved but I want to say more mobile with my clients and stay in better contact with all the photography information.

I like that the HTC Pure has apps like the Iphone, even though it does not have some 85,000 apps that the Iphone has, it has a lot of apps to be fun. My current favorite is the facebook app that allows me to snap a photo and instant upload to my profile. I also like the weather bug app that keeps me posted on the weather in both Rehoboth and Ocean City, you never know when you need to have your back up plans ready in case of rain.

I do not like the camera that is on the phone. It has a 5mp camera built into the phone but if it takes blurry or grainy pictures it’s not that good. At least the Motorola Q has a built in flash that was nice, but only worked in short distances. I can deal with the not so good camera with all the other cool features it has.
I like that it has a dongle that lets you plug in headphones as well as a headset for easy, hands free communication. On my house phone I use a standard, 3.5 mm jack headset, and when I get a call on the cell I can now just unplug from my one phone to the HTC.

The internet on this phone is worth its weight in gold. You are never disconnected from the net with this little guy and when you need to check your bank account for example it’s just a couple clicks away. The internet and other applications are pretty fast however sometimes it does lock up. From there I just turn it off and turn it back on.

More benefits of the professional photographer

More benefits of the professional photographer – NON Professionals beware!

As I think more and more on the subject, I become more aware of what sets me apart from the Aunts, Uncles, and friends out there running around with a camera, thinking “I can do that”.
Some of the key factors are Equipment, experience, knowledge, and attitude.

With equipment this item is often over looked from people know don’t know what they are looking at. Allow me to explain.

When you walk into Best Buy, Wal-Mart, or Target, I’m sure you’ve seen the cameras on display and think “damn $700 is a lot of money for a camera” it might be a Canon Rebel or a Nikon D40, but I’m here to tell you, it’s not a lot of money.

My main camera cost me $3000 easy and that’s not including the lens, flashes, batteries, and other equipment. And that’s just my main camera, I also carry a back up camera worth $1500 and an extra camera worth about $1200. You may think, “What! Why!” I’m serious about my job and my passion, and I’m serious about taking the very best photo I can, and whether it’s for your wedding day or a family beach portrait, I want to make it the best I can.

I carry around backups, because equipment fails. Batteries fail, lenses malfunction, flashes break, on the that one special magical wedding day, you can’t announce to the crowd, “Hold on, I’ll be right back, I have to buy something”. And you can’t just leave either, you will miss everything you were hired to capture.

I like to bring along multiple lenses because different lenses do different things, which also ties into Education. I like my standard low light lens, F2.8, to capture as much as I can in low light situations. Its considered a mid range so I can’t be too far and I can’t be too close either. Another Lens that is fun to use is my 85mm prime lens, it’s really cool and artsy, to take a photo of the cake all in focus and have the couple in the background all blurred out. Or what if I want to take a really detailed close up image of the rings in the flowers, then I have my macro lens for that. Rather than switch lens on to camera body and back and forth, which means you might have dust enter the camera or you might miss a shot because you are messing with your camera or lens, I have several lenses on multiple camera bodies.

Does your amateur photographer do all that?

Experience

What does shooting hundreds of weddings and thousands of portraits give you?
Ding Ding Ding DING!
You guessed it, Mad Experience.

Well you come to rely on that experience at various weddings, events, portrait sessions, whatever has happened to you and you learned something from you, makes you a better photographer. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in a church photographing a wedding and I see the bubbles ready for the bride and groom to walk out through, and time and time again, based on experience I know a lot of times it doesn’t work without the proper planning. So with me, I know from the past to help organize the people, get more people on one side or the other based on how strong the wind is blowing. Helping those family members and friends with cameras, to come down by me so they can get the better shot.

Experience wins out more often than not and that’s why I go to events, even when I’m not the photographer, sometimes I’ll help out a DJ friend, or maybe video tape a minister friend, every event I can go to brings me more and more experience.

And you don’t want an Inexperience amateur photographer at your wedding do you?

Knowledge

Where experience will only get you so far, it’s the knowledge that will carry you further. Its why I got to professional photographer classes, why I read books, subscribe to photographer magazines, attend big photographer conventions, and why I never stop learning. I often consider myself a “White Belt” (To use some martial arts terms) in photography but my definition might different as we all know a black belt is way higher than a white, I think of myself as constantly learning. I don’t want to enter into a conversation or class and think of myself as more knowledgeable then the rest, I’d rather go there with an open mind and clean slate to learn with. Because even though you may have years of photography knowledge, you may miss something the new beginner might have picked up. And then you can add that to your knowledge base.

A lot of classes and seminars I attend cost a couple of hundred dollars a pop, but its paid for itself time and time again from what I learned. And you’d be surprised with all the free education online that you can learn, and the biggest difference is that I take the time to learn it. Some people might say “I don’t have the time”. I’ll let you in on a trick that will help. MAKE THE TIME! It’s that easy. But that’s for a whole other article.

Does your photographer friend find the time to learn more about their hobby?

Attitude

If you thought Experience and Knowledge will take you places, I’m here to tell you, Attitude will take you places you never thought possible. And not any attitude will do, it has to be a positive one. When I show up to an event, be it wedding, senior shoot, or beach portrait, I bring on the Fun and I bring on the FUNK. I think of myself as the eternal optimist and it pays to do so. One of my classic, I know, cheezy sayings “where there is a WILL (me) there IS A WAY”. I don’t like to take “it’s impossible” or “I can’t do it” to heart, I think all the time when I encounter opposition or a difficulty, there has got to be a way around this. So many a times I’ll show up on location with the attitude “this is going to be fun” “and nothing is going to stop this from being great”.

I’ve interacted with people not in the very best of moods, but I’ve been able to turn it around by being positive and fun. I am all the time reading people, their tones, body language, and their attitude, and when I need to, I’ll kick my attitude up a bit to make it an Awesome event.
It’s no fun having a silent, burnt out photographer showing up to your wedding, there to capture smiles and all they do is bring the place down.

Check to make sure your guy is at least a little fun or has a pulse.
And well that’s all I have to say on the subject.
Nuff said.

“Thinking about having my friend photograph my wedding.”

“Thinking about having my friend photograph my wedding.”

I tend to hear that from time to time and when I do hear it, it always makes me laugh a little inside and worry at the same time. I think to myself that some brides may not want beautiful images of their wedding or they may not care too much about it, because if they did they wouldn't trust their friend who, chances are, they are not a professional photographer. More than likely they bought a $600 camera and took a few photos of their trip to where ever and they have never photographed a wedding.

There is a lot that goes into being a photographer at a person's wedding, there is experience you need to keep you ahead of the game and makes you ready for the awesome shot. There are skills that you acquire from continuous shooting and classes that you attend to keep that skill up. A pro wouldn't have a camera you'd buy in Wal-Mart or Best buy, they would have spent a couple of thousand I'm sure.

Even though I consider myself mechanically inclined, when I have car issues, I take it straight to the dealer or a qualified mechanic. Same thing applies if I wanted the roof on my house repaired, I would contact a licensed carpenter so I can have to job done right the first time. With the wedding supposed to be once in a lifetime event for you, magical and memorable, how will you look back on the memories, by looking at your photos. To me that seems important, not something I would just trust anyone with. Another good way of thinking about it, If your friend watches a lot of Discovery Health on TV and owns "some" surgical tools, would you let that person operate on you?

Oh god I hope not, I'd go find me a doctor with education and years of experience.
Having been to one too many weddings, I can see that a wedding is like an orchestra. Every professional is there to do their part and without each one, your wedding could be out of sync.
To have a reception you should have a Disc Jockey, you can't really have a good party without one. I've seen weddings without them and I've seen those receptions suffer.

You can't get married without a wedding minister or officiant, they are pretty important and hard to get married without one.

Wedding planners, personally I would go with one of these all the time. They help run the show so you don't have to. I can't tell you how many times I've seen the bride or groom running around trying to put out fires or do things they shouldn't be doing because they don't have anyone else to do it for them. It's the couples celebration and they should be relaxing and having fun.

Photographers and Videographers, these are your record keepers. These are the people the capture all the memories of this most important day. As I have touch on photographers, Videographers are just as equally important that get over looked. Can you imagine going to a movie to see, Spider Man for example. What if you sit down in your seat with your popcorn and you look up at the screen and you see images of spider-man. For an entire hour, you see cool image, after cool photo of spider man and all the cool things he is doing. After an hour or so, it's over, and you leave, but all you saw were images and photos, not a movie. Video brings you into the story in a way that photos can't. You can look at a photo and you can get a flash of a memory that is brought on by that image, but when you watch a movie it allows you to relive that memory and you began to see things you might have missed or might have forgotten.

I could go on listing various wedding professionals and their key roles they play, but I'm sure you will have gotten the point by now.

Allow the professionals to do what they do best so that you don't have to worry and enjoy that celebration of love.